What freedom is worth to Republicans
Dec 8 at 6:06am by Anonymous
Liberty Bell
So the Republicans are pushing the message of their “positive” campaign? The Democrats, they claim, are the party of protest and pessimism, filled with people who “hate” Bush for the sake of hatred. I guess the RNC has no choice but to go with an oversimplified message to an electorate of who already sees the world in such uncomplicated terms. They would have to be simpletons in order to support the RNC after it declared war on the common sense of the world by attacking Iraq. The Republicans certainly declared war on international peace-seeking institutions and the goodwill of our allies. But this is of little consequence to them. Liberals, like foreigners, didn’t vote for Bush in 2000 and aren’t likely to in 2004, so to hell with them, they figure. But Bush and his devious advisers have made the conscious decision to be president for the (less than) half of the country that voted for him.
The rank-and-file moral simpletons who support Bush blindly need to take a good look at the Republican Party to see how positive it really is. Go the the RNC website and look at how much space is devoted to questioning Democratic candidates not on the basis of policy or philosophy but in issues of relevance to Democrats. For example, questions are asked about whether Dick Gephardt, John Edwards, and Joe Lieberman are “true friends of labor.” What should that matter to Republicans? Republicans are confirmed enemies of labor. Just look at how they insisted the Department of Homeland Security offer only non-union jobs. What business do the Republicans have parsing out the subtleties of one Democrat’s labor stance versus another?
More sneering and innuendo filed headlines on the GOP site: “Kerry Whopper Watch” (you can hear echoes to what they did to Al Gore in 2000),”Howard Dean, unpasteurized”, “Edward’ Trial Lawyer Gold Rush” (trial lawyers are all evil–as opposed to corporate lawyers, I suppose). The purpose of these meddling articles is to make sure the moral simpletons have the tools to undermine the credibility of legitimate Democratic candidates, and of course, feel good while doing it. That way, when they get in discussions with a Democrat or call in to a radio show, it’s a fill-in-the-blank political argument. The talking points don’t elucidate policy or political differences. The talking points brand candidates and slander them. This is negative not only to the candidates but the democratic process (as the rise to power of any fascist in history could tell you.)
Republicans love to crow on and on about freedom. Freedom, oh, how they love that word! Any criticism of Bush and what do you get? Some red-white-and-blue clad moron giving you a loud and angry defense of “freedom.” But we truebelievers in America, understand that with freedom comes responsibility. Freedom for us is not just a flag-sticker slapped on the back of a SUV while someone else’s poor and dark-skinned children are led into a shooting gallery overseas. No, for us, the true value of freedom is priceless. And for the Republicans, what is freedom worth? Well, it’s worth GOPoints. That’s right, you can sign up to be a TeamLeader on the GOP site. In exchange for calling talk radio shows, newspapers and TV stations to tell them what a marvelous job Bush has been doing you can earn GOPoints that can be redeemed for GOP bumper sticker (75 points), water bottle (125 points), coffee mugs (165), or windbreakers (375). Each, of course, silk-screened or stitched in red, white, or blue. So you see, the Republicans have succeeded in trivializing politics to the point that citizens are literally trading away their rights and responsibilities for a handful of political Marlboro Miles. This is where Bush’s fund raising money is going. This, and of course untold behind-the-scenes slander and personal destruction campaigns against any candidate who steps near the Democratic nomination.
In terms of trinkets, the Democratic Party must seem like a real rip-off. All they do is ask for money and fight tooth and nail to offer the only hope of restoring sanity to the nation. And yet, to the RNC, Democrats are simply “Bush-haters.” Their anger is to be held at a distance, examined, questioned. Not at all, like the 8 years of blinding rage directed at Clinton. The level of disrespect shown to Bill Clinton – legitimately elected, by the way – tells you a lot about the hysterics Republicans resort to.
I remember quite well in the 1990s asking Clinton haters what was so bad about him. What I got was replies like this, “I wouldn’t let that man inside my house let alone the White House.” Okay, but why? “I can’t even get started on why I hate him.” Okay, well, I have time. Tell me, I said.
Inevitably the argument came down to the vague crime of “what he symbolized.” And for them that was enough.
As for Bush, there is nothing symbolic about his criminality. It’s fact after fact.
The voters struck from the rolls in Florida. Ripping up the Kyoto Accord. The handling of Sept. 11th intelligence. Exacerbating the bad economy and shifting burdens away from those who can most easily shoulder them to those who can’t. Alienating allies. Trying to undermine the 40-hour workweek. Trying to allow Big Media to further consolidate. Fomenting hatred against any nation that disagrees with the White House. A reckless, idiotic foreign policy. An unnecessary war. No bid contracts. Americans dying for his lies. Exposing a CIA spy. And we have to justify our hatred of this? We have to play nice? Hah. The Republican strategy of manipulating the discourse to where we feel uncomfortable about being negative is downright post-modern. It defies conventional logic. And yet it’s their best hope of blunting our legitimate anger. That fact of the matter is, Bush and the Republicans in power bear a sizeable responsibility for the negative state this country is in. They compound violence with violence; fear with fear and I can’t help but wonder if it is because fear is at the heart of Bush and his cronies. Of that paranoid, xenophobic, greedy, powermad mindset. The essence of a bully is a coward and the Republicans through their manipulations, distortions, misrepresentations, scares, lies, false alarms, accusations, bullying, and posturing are the biggest cowards around these days. But we believers in democracy, we legitimate and idealistic heirs to the Founding Fathers, are not afraid. We won’t be dragged down into the darkness the Republicans count on for their success.
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Leave a reply